


Trying to Understand

by butyoumight



Category: TRUMP: True of Vamp - The Origin of the Vampire | Suemitsu Kenichi
Genre: Gen, TRUTH Cast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butyoumight/pseuds/butyoumight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>I've changed my mind so much I cant even trust it, my mind changed me so much I cant even trust myself</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes, clarity comes for Klauss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trying to Understand

**Author's Note:**

> Still waiting on subs, but having had some of the back-stage stuff translated for me, this ficlet wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is!

“Teacher Michelangelo?” The voice was as rough as the sea in a storm, and a thousand times as tragic. She very carefully set down the tea pot she'd been considering for the evening's party, and turned to address Klauss.

Whatever words she was about to say died on her tongue when she saw the state he was in. Not that his hair was ever really neat, but it was a particular mess just now, and the paled streak of silver-grey was stained red in spots. His face was pale but for stark crimson stripes and smears, and his mouth was drawn down into a trembling frown. The fangs that he mostly kept hidden rested sharp against his bottom lip, punctuating the expression. 

He held his hands out in front of him, palms up, helpless, and his fingers were as stained as his face. His eyes were wide, but his pupils shrunken to nearly nothing. Blood was still welling at the corners of his eyes, coating his lashes and spilling fresh shining trails down his cheeks. How he could see anything in this state she wasn't sure, but he took a step closer to her and miraculously didn't trip over the uneven floor. 

Dealing with Klauss when he was like this was tricky at best, and it might even be actively hazardous. Like a tiger with a mortal wound, he could be twice as dangerous if provoked, and it wouldn't take much for him to kill her. A fleeting thought, if she was particularly unlucky. 

Still, she had to try. 

She wished Gustav were here with her. There was no elegance in the madness of grief. That required strength to withstand. 

She swallowed hard, twice, then took a step closer to Klauss, reaching cautiously to grasp his bloody hands together between her own. “What is wrong, my dear Teacher Klauss?”

He stared at her for a moment, then looked around the room blankly. While he had addressed her by name when he arrived, he seemed to have forgotten why he had come. Perhaps even forgotten coming at all. 

She squeezed his hands gently. “Klauss?”

His eyes came slowly back around to meet hers, and something seemed to spark in their depths. She tried to keep breathing normally but she failed and her breath stalled in her throat, choking her. 

“Allen's dead, isn't he?” 

She sighed out her held breath with a little whine. “Ohh, Klauss...”

“I couldn't protect him.”

She swallowed again. Then twice more. She didn't know what to say. Her mouth and throat were dry. 

Not for the first time, she wished it were as easy as sinking her teeth into the crook of his arm, and _making_ him forget the pain of his past, his terrible grief, the devastating loss that had broken his brilliant mind, had left him this confused and wandering shell of a soul, atoning for decades for a sin that was not his. 

But it wasn't that easy. Because of who he was, because of _what_ he was... Her bite would have no more effect on him than the bite of a mosquito to a human. 

He had to live with it. He had to live with everything.

And there was nothing she could do.

She couldn't help herself. She leaned forward, and pressed her lips to Klauss' cheek. When she pulled back again, she was glad to see that his pupils had dilated slightly, that he finally seemed to really be _seeing_ her. 

She licked her lips. His blood made her tongue tingle. 

“My dear Klauss,” she said again, but she couldn't seem to think of any words powerful enough for him to hold onto through this crashing wave of doubt and pain. 

The thing that hurt the most, from her perspective anyway, was knowing that in a few hours, maybe a few days at most, he'd forget again. He'd go back to wandering the school, calling for a boy who would not answer. And then the next time the clarity came, he would crash once more, just as painful as this time, and just as fleeting. 

She put her arms carefully around his shoulders and pulled him into a gentle hug. He went still, and his breath felt cool against the hollow of her throat. 

“Teacher Michelangelo.” This voice, unlike Klauss', was rugged, steady, and so very _strong_. She looked past Klauss' shoulder, and smiled in relief as Gustav stuck his crop in the door-hinge, holding the door open. “The students are waiting. What should I tell them?”

“Ah, my dear Teacher Gustav. Would you please prepare the service for me?” Her voice trilled. “And an extra cup.” She knew by the gleam in Gustav's eye that he understood. 

He bowed sharply at the waist, stood straight again, and with carefully deliberate movements gathered an unmatched jumble of a tea service. Oh, well, it would do for now. 

Gustav left, tea service jingling away on the cart, but she noted he left the door propped open with his crop. She smiled faintly at the thought, and released Klauss carefully, leaving him to stand there, only a bit confused, as she pulled a handkerchief out of her dress and went to wet it. 

“Come, come, Teacher Klauss.” She took his hands again and carefully rubbed at his stained fingers with the wet cloth. That done, she re-folded it and lifted it to his bloodied cheeks. “Won't you have tea with us?”

He blinked a few times. His pupils dilated a bit more. He glanced around, then looked in askance at the now-red handkerchief in her hand. “Teacher Michelangelo, are you alright?”

She smiled and tucked the handkerchief back down the front of her dress. “Of course! Come on, we'll have tea with the students, won't that be lovely?”

He smiled, and his fangs seemed to waver in his mouth as the sharpened points disappeared from view. “Will Allen be there?”

He was back. She swallowed back a sigh and managed a smile in it's place. “We'll have to see!”

She took his cold hand in hers, and with the other removed Gustav's crop from where it held the door open, letting the door slam shut behind them. 

Until the next time.


End file.
